After The Party, There's The After-Party
by HStern
Summary: The Almighty Johnson brothers have sent the Norse gods back to their home, but a stranger threatens to change everything they know about their past, who they are now, and what it means to be gods among men.
1. After The Party, There's The After-Party

Hi, I'm looking for notes, comments, edits, suggestions on pacing, style, anything you think would be helpful for an aspiring published author to know. This is a LONG piece, and would probably be the story arc of several episodes, if not half a season, so don't expect a two-pager. As a side note: I don't own any of the characters, I am simply the wicked puppet master of this show. I also have never written fanfic before, so I'm fucking up the chapter function on this site, and just reloading the entire entry each time. Sorry about that!

Chapter 1: After The Party, There's The After-Party

The air hostess, a skinny little blond in a cranberry red dress and sensible brown shoes, picked her way delicately down the aisle, which was impressive considering the large metal cart she pushed before her during moderate turbulence. It was a full flight, and Sarah Freeberg marveled at the way the woman managed to move the cart around errant limbs of sleeping passengers that were in her path. She craned her neck over the balding man in the seat in front of her. Non-alcoholic beverages. Pity. All the hostess seemed to have was soda, and apple juice from a box. Not worth the effort of stopping the woman and asking for a flimsy plastic cup. Sarah leaned back a bit and rested her elbow on the one side of the seat that was undeniably hers. She had managed to score herself an aisle seat so she could get up from her chair during the trip without worrying about climbing over other passengers. A total stroke of luck, considering how completely last minute her flight had been booked. She reclined her seat as far as humanly possible and checked the destination tracker on the tv monitor in front of her. From New York, it was approximately thirty-six hours to the Auckland airport, with two layovers. The plane was three hours into the flight, give or take; even Virgin Australia couldn't bend space and time to make it a shorter trip. Sarah heard the man behind her huff in protest as her seat invaded his personal space. "Tough," she thought to herself, "I don't even want to be here, but if I am, I'm at least going to be comfortable. Moderately comfortable. Less _un_comfortable. Thirty-three more hours…" she thought to herself. But what then? She had no contacts to speak of, and only a couple of hastily exchanged emails with some people who may or may not show up to help her once she arrived. She let out a sigh and pulled out the band holding her short brown hair in a ponytail so she could lean her head back. She had always wanted to travel the world and leave behind the insular community in which she'd been brought up, but cashing in her entire savings account and grabbing the first ticket to Auckland while packing whatever clothes happened to be clean was not how she imagined her great adventures. She closed her eyes as the hostess maneuvered past her, bumping Sarah's elbow hard enough to leave a bruise. "Thirty-three more hours." Thirty-three hours to go to a new country, find a place to stay, make her contacts, and figure out what to do with the rest of her life when her work there was done.

Yup. Seemed reasonable.


	2. Chapter 2 - Like Normal People

Chapter 2: Like Normal People

Dawn waddled around the side of the table, passing platters to Axl and Mike before Ty grabbed her gently by the elbow,

"You should be sitting down. I can get the food on the table for everyone. You should relax." He put his hand on her belly. It was still too early to feel the baby move, but he fancied he felt a stirring in response to the warmth of his touch. He steered her toward her seat at one end of the long table.

"I'm fine! You worry too much. I thought you would be less clingy once the whole god business was done." Dawn protested with a smile, but let Ty walk her to her chair and sat down in it.

"You're right. You're absolutely right. I'll work on that." He smiled down at her. From across the table he heard Mike lapse into his role as head of the family, assigning tasks like a drill sergeant,

"Right. Axl, you grab the chicken, Grandpa, you get the stuffing, I'll get the veg, and Anders, you grab the beers. And a water for Dawn." The men began moving as each of their names were called, but Anders moved slowly as he grumbled.

"I never understood why only goddesses had handmaidens. We need a handmaiden. Is that a thing nowadays? Can I hire a professional handmaiden to pour drinks? Like, a cute one. Young. Maybe blond. She could be brunnett; I'm open minded…"

"JUST…. get the drinks, ok Anders?" Mike was trying to maintain his calm, but Anders had recently taken up his old hobby of irritating Mike as often as possible. Their relationship had mended quite a bit during the three-year long quest to find the Frigg, but things had changed for Anders when Michele had announced two weeks ago that she was leaving him to travel the world. He had wanted to go with her, had even offered to close down his company, liquidate it, and follow Michele like a lovesick puppy. She had turned him down. She cared for him, but having nearly died, she just didn't want to waste the time she did have by spending it all on one small island. She had protested that it wasn't fair to make Anders give up his entire life for what she felt was her own personal quest. She had left only a few days later, and for once, Anders had felt more than a little gutted at the loss. If he had still been a god, only five months ago, still had his full Bragi powers, he would have done everything he could to make her stay. He would have told the security agents at the airport that she was smuggling a bomb, probably somewhere indecent. A good cavity search would have been pretty entertaining for him to contemplate. But he wasn't a god anymore, he was just another Johnson brother, grabbing beers from the fridge for everyone at the table. Plus, one glass of water.

"Fine. But the next time our bodies are inhabited by gods, I want a handmaiden to do all this menial shit for me." He brought the beers out and passed them around, then took his seat at the table.

"That's a very flattering sentiment. I'm sure you'll have goddesses lining up for a crack at that position…"

"I hadn't thought about _positions_, Hanna, but now that you mention it…"

"ANDERS!" Mike cut in. "This is family dinner. That means we all sit around a table, eat food, and talk about normal topics, like normal people." Mike's face had gone its usual shade of maroon and one vein was standing out in his forehead. Axl's hand on his arm brought him back to himself.

"He's having a laugh, Mike. I think family dinner was a great idea on Hanna's part. It's really nice to have a reason to see you guys regularly. I mean, without someone threatening to call a Thing or a.. ah…"

"Bergerbar." Said Olaf from the far side of the table.

"Right! Thanks, grandpa. No, I like this," he clapped Mike on the back with a smile on his face. He glanced around the room at the faces of his family. Initially, after releasing the gods from their human hosts, Axl had begun worrying that he wouldn't see as much of his brothers anymore. Before being told that he was the bodily incarnation of Odin, he rarely saw Mike and Anders in the same room. The quest to find the Frigg had brought them all closer, and Axl liked having his family around him. Now, with Dawn four months pregnant and Hanna a permanent fixture in Mike's life, the thought of things going back to the way they had been just a handful of years ago made him wince.

"Hey Axl, nobody likes a suck up." Teased Anders.

"Well I, for one, think it's lovely that your family is so close. Not many god families were, so I can't imagine they bridged those emotional barriers since the change. Quite sad, really, when you think about it…" Ingrid's eyes went a bit unfocused as she stood holding napkins between the kitchen and the dining room in Ty and Dawn's apartment.

"Right. Well, let's just all sit down, shall we?" Hanna brought them all back to the present as people started taking their seats.

"So, are we like… are we Christian now? Should we pray before eating or something?" Axl whispered to Olaf sitting to his right.

"I don't think All-Fathers pray to anyone." Olaf whispered back.

"I'm not Odin anymore, though."

"Pretty sure even former All-Fathers are exempt from the praying thing."

"Let's just all dig in!" said Hanna and people started passing plates and chattering among themselves. It was a warm feeling of family that pervaded the small apartment, and even Anders cut Mike some slack and went easy on him for a while. The conversations flowed, and the room was thick was laughter and talk of recent events in everyone's lives. Axl was finding steady work with Mike's new construction company, and Gaia had been in touch. Now that they were no longer gods, they were considering rekindling a relationship. Mike and Hanna were enjoying their apartment, and had squirreled away both the insurance money from the fire at Mike's bar, as well as his recent casino winnings, and were thinking about buying a house and starting a family.

"I guess some goddesses never change, huh Frigg? Still trying to rope a man into marriage?"

"What, Anders? What did you say?" Mike was leaning across the table, but it was hard to hear his brother over the noise.

"I said… I said Frigg is trying to… she's trying to… what the hell is that noise?! Jesus, do your neighbors always make that much noise when they're screwing?!" Anders was shouting to Ty who let out a frustrated sigh and got up out of his chair to head to the backyard.

"IT'S THE CATS!" Yelled Dawn. "THERE ARE TWO STRAY…" just then, Ty threw a rock, hitting the back fence and scaring away the feral animals, "cats. Stray cats. They must be mating, or something. They just started making that noise in the past two days."

"Cats…" muttered Ingrid next to Olaf, who looked at her quizzically. "Cats…" she said again. "There's something about cats…"

"Yes, it's a delightful Broadway production and I'd love to see it sometime, but until then, Ty please keep your pussy under control when I'm around, ok? Thanks."

"Nice, Anders." Ty responded, but even his brother's crass comments couldn't dull the happiness he had been feeling since Dawn had told him she was pregnant. She would be huge in a wedding dress, and he would love every minute of it. He considered showing Mike the scrap book of wedding ideas he'd been putting together in the last few weeks, but decided against it before he even sat back down at the table. If that got out, he would never hear the end of it.

Axl sat back and watched as the conversation resumed, and sipped his beer slowly. He wanted moments like this to last forever. Not so long ago, a hospital stay for him could have meant the end of New Zealand, but in this minute, right here with his family, everything was happy and warm and good. And there was no reason to think any of that would change.

"Cats…" muttered Olaf to himself as he spooned more stuffing into his mouth. "Cats…"


	3. Chapter 3 - Meet Mr Wotan

"Is there a Holiday Inn or something around here? I just need a place to stay for the night." Sarah asked the the woman behind the information desk near the luggage carousel. She just needed a place to crash until she could figure out her next steps.

"I'm sorry miss," the woman behind the desk seemed sincerely apologetic as she punched keys on her computer, "but the system seems to be down right now. I have no idea what places have rooms, or what's even open at this hour." The airport was nearly deserted, with only a few stragglers waiting for either taxis, or delayed family members to pick them up. Sarah had neither. It was 10:00pm local time, which meant it was… Sarah tried to do the math to figure out what time it would be in New York. Everything was fuzzy and she wasn't even sure what day it was here… or there… or anywhere. She needed sleep. She needed a hotel, she needed help…

"Ah, miss. I might be able to help, if you like." Sarah turned at the voice behind her. It was thick and warm, and for some reason she instantly wanted to like the older gentleman standing behind her. He was tall, but was probably well over six feet tall in his youth. A smile cracked his tanned and weathered skin, and he had a well-trimmed beard. He almost looked like a thinner, stronger Santa Claus, except for a patch over one eye. His accent didn't sound exactly like the other New Zealanders around her, more like someone who had moved here years ago. "I know of a good place, clean, and reasonably priced. I have a taxi outside, if you want a ride. I was just coming in to grab a bite to eat, but everything is closed. Need a lift?"

"You could be a serial killer." Sarah surprised herself by saying out loud what she always thought when random strangers walked up to her. The man looked taken aback for a moment, but then laughed.

"I guess I could be. But if I killed you, I wouldn't get the fare for the ride to the hotel, would I? Seems like a waste to me!" His smile got wider, and Sarah had the oddest sensation of knowing this man from somewhere. The image of zebras skipped across her mind… clearly a sign that the long flight had taken its toll. Best she find a hotel ASAP before she went insane. She looked back at the woman behind the Information desk, but the lady had walked away and didn't seem at all concerned with the plight of one lost foreigner.

"Sure. Yeah, ok. Thank you…?"

The man picked up her bags with surprising ease, and turned toward the gates leading out to the line of taxis, "Mr. Wotan, at your service." Sarah followed Wotan out to his taxi, got in, and fell asleep as he pulled away from the curb. Her last thought was that the car smelled faintly of cats.


	4. Chapter 4 - Coffee First, Please

The first order of business when Sarah had woken up in her hotel room had been a shower. She padded into the bathroom with her bare feet and turned on the light. A moan rattled around her head when she realized that she had not only slept fully clothed, but her hair had been in a ponytail at the time, and was now a mess of tangles. She looked like she'd had a rough night, and she supposed she had. She didn't even know where she was. She looked for hotel room soaps or shampoo to give her an idea, but they were all organic fancy brands she had never heard of. She looked at herself in the mirror again, then turned around and grabbed a towel from the rack behind her. It was soft and fluffy, nicer even than the ones she had at home, and embroidered into the edge was the name of the hotel,

"Waldorf Celestion Apartment Hotel. Great. Thanks a lot, Mr. Wotan. I'm sure this is just as cheap as Motel 6. Ugh." Well, fuck it. If she was already here, she paid for the day, so she might as well enjoy it. She peeled her clothes off, not even interested in doing the math of how long they had been on her, and hopped into a steamy hot shower. Her head began to clear, and she thought through the next steps for her day.

Things had gone completely insane for her a few months ago. No, things had gone insane for her _years _ago, but for no understandable reason her life had completely turned upside down around five months ago and she needed some damn answers. Her entire youth had been filled with questions; questions that went unanswered, that received sidelong glances between her parents. Her parents… they were probably the real reason she had come all the way to the other side of the world. Her parents had been maddeningly tight-lipped on everything about their past before coming to America.. All she knew was that they had come from New Zealand before she was born and settled in Brooklyn, New York. She had been told that the move was because there just wasn't a large Jewish community in New Zealand, and they wanted to around their own kind… but that story never quite sat right with Sarah. It wasn't the things they said to her that felt like lies, it was what they didn't say, as if holding back some horrible secret to spare her. She had rebelled in her youth, and refused a good marriage to a nice young man from her neighborhood. She had gotten her own apartment, skipped out on community events, and had stopped observing religious holidays. Her parents had begged and pleaded with her, but Sarah had told them that she couldn't live a lie, and had gone to University to study History, with a focus on military strategies.

So, focus. Focus, Sarah. Strategize about how to find someone who can help you figure out what the hell is happening to you. Well, she'd need a mobile phone, first. Can't reach out and touch anyone if they can't get back to you. And a cheaper hotel! Jesus! She'd need to find a cheaper hotel. She didn't even want to think what this was costing her per night! Then, she'd use the computer facilities at the hotel and email some folks she'd found online, and see if anyone could help her now that she had her feet on actual Kiwi soil.

"Ok. Good start!" She told herself. "But… maybe all of that comes after a coffee." Right, coffee first, conquer an island after. Got it. Sarah finished up, got out of the shower, and wrapped herself in the soft towel. She walked back into the room and opened up her bag, which was placed neatly in the corner. In the back of her mind was the nagging realization that she had no memory of renting the room, coming upstairs, or putting her bag anywhere at all. She would be worried that Mr. Wotan had done something inappropriate to her, but she just couldn't convince herself that he was that type of man. He had seemed warm and sincere. Fatigue; she would chalk it up to fatigue. She got dressed, threw on a pair of sneakers, grabbed the room key from the bedside table, and walked out into a city she had never seen before, hoping for answers that would change her life.


	5. C5 - Possibly-American-Possibly-Canadian

Axl's phone rang in the middle of the roofing job he'd started that morning.

"Hello?"

"Axl. Hey, I forgot to grab some lunches for us and I have to go meet with a possible client. Can you run over to the store and pick us up something."

"Sure, Mike. Fancy anything?"

"Naw, whatever you grab'll be fine. I should be over to the site to check on your roof in about two hours."

"Cool! Ok, see you then!" There was probably a shop nearby; if he wanted, Axl could run by, grab something quick, plus a couple of beers, be back in about thirty minutes and relax for an hour or so before Mike showed up. Working for his brother had its perks! Axl put down the hammer and tacs and walked carefully over to the ladder. The roof looked pretty good, and despite missing most of his final year in school, he seemed to be getting on well in construction. He climbed down off of the roof and got into his new truck with "Johnson's Home Repair and Construction" written on the sides. He was pretty sure there was a shop nearby that sold something he could pick up for lunch. He might just drive around a bit and see where he ended up. He had loads of time, he might get lucky and find something good!

It was cold out, but clear; good driving conditions. Axl drove around the neighborhood and checked out some of the other houses in the area. This job was for some pretty posh clients, and their houses were always over the top. He liked checking out the crazy shit some people built to live in. Finally, his truck turned onto a major road and he remembered why he was off-site to begin with. His stomach rumbled to ensure he got the message.

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered to himself, and turned into the car park shared by a few small shops. Something in here would have sandwiches and beers. He wasn't feeling particularly picky, so he hopped out of the truck and walked into the first thing that caught his eye: Jotunn's Restaurant. Sounds like a kebab place, he thought, but his feet took him in and nothing else around looked very promising.

It was a small deli-style shop that had a few small tables on the right where folks could sit and eat, and a counter to the left where he could order whatever he wanted from a menu printed on the wall behind it. Now that he was here, nothing really caught his eye from the menu. Why was he in here? There must have been better options around… he looked behind him, out of the large window and into the car park.

"Can I help you?" asked an older woman behind the counter. She had gray hair and weathered skin like tanned leather, but her eyes were bright and she had the feeling about her of someone's nice, old granny.

"Uhh, yeah, sorry. Ok, um, I'll take a, uh….." Axl hadn't looked at the menu at all since walking in, and wasn't even sure what his options were.

"We do a good meat pattie. Or the fish fillet is fresh today." The woman offered, helpfully. Axl grinned sheepishly at her. Fish wasn't his thing, but the meat pattie might do.

"Sure, ok!" his smile brightened, now that he didn't feel he was wasting her time while he figured out what he wanted, "I'll take two, no… three meat patties, and a coupla' beers, please." The old woman looked pleased and busied herself getting his order together. Axl moved toward the register in back of the restaurant and got ready to pay. He wasn't sure how much this would cost, but luckily he had Mike's corporate card for business expenses. "This is _totally _a business expense," he muttered to himself. "I can't work if I'm hungry!" The bell above the door tinkled as Axl pawed through his wallet. A feeling of being wrapped in heavy, sweaty wool and spun in circles rolled over Axl, and he dropped his wallet to put one hand on the counter to his left. "Crap. I'm hungrier than I thought!" he muttered again, and let the feeling settle over him before reaching down to grab his wallet. That was when the screaming had begun. Axl turned to see a woman about his age on the floor with two other customers around her. Sandwiches lay in ruins near tables, and for a split second, Axl mourned the loss of the delicious meat and cheese that would end up in the rubbish.

"I'm fine. Sorry! I just slipped or something. No, no, I'm good, thanks!" The woman was standing up, thanking the other customers and seemed to be fine after her spill. She was a short brunette, and wore jeans, trainers, and a warm parka. Not exactly dressed to impress, but it was pretty chilly out. Axl listened to her as she thanked people for their help; clearly from her accent, not local. American? he guessed. Maybe Canadian? Whoever she was, he suddenly realized, was not nearly as important as _what _she was.

"Oh, fuck." He said aloud as their eyes met across the wasteland of discarded sandwich meats and strewn condiments.

"That'll be eight dollars and thirty-seven cents," chimed the voice of the old woman behind him. He hastily turned his back on the possibly-American-possibly-Canadian brunette, handed the woman the credit card and prayed that it rang up quick so he could call his brothers, call Olaf, and figure out what the fuck was going on.


	6. Chapter 6 - That God Vibe

"The surf is really high today, Axl. I'm gonna need to know why I'm here," Olaf paused to puff on his joint, "and not out enjoying nature!" Small lines had crept into his skin since he had stopped being reborn each day. The big concern they'd had after meeting in the forest to release the god spirits had been that Olaf would suddenly begin aging rapidly, as he had when Axl had been in a coma and all the powers of the gods had weakened. But Olaf appeared to be aging at the same rate as everyone else. That was generally good news, but the concept of actual mortality seemed to light a fire under Olaf's ass, and every day at the beach, every drink of alcohol, every moment of pleasure that he could get had taken on a new emphasis. He was still the laid back 95 year old they all knew and loved, but there was more of an edge to him now, and it took some getting used to by his family.

"Look, I know, but I wouldn't have asked you all here if it wasn't important." They stood around the building site that Mike and Axl had been working on for the past few weeks, the roof still half done. Axl could tell from the look Mike shot him when he arrived that he had expected more work to be finished, but this took priority today. "I saw a girl at the shop today, when I went to pick up lunch for me and Mike."

"That's great, Axl. I cancelled a meeting with a very big client who was willing to pay me very big money so that I could hear about your dating life? Get her name, get her number, have a lovely shag and let me know if she's interested in brothers" Anders turned and started walking toward his car. Since losing all of his clients, he had had to downgrade a bit, but he was working on building the company back up… it was harder without his Bragi powers than he had anticipated.

"I got that weird 'god-vibe.'" Axl stressed in a loud-whisper so that everyone, including Anders, could hear. "And not just a little feeling, either. Like… like the first time I met Eva. Or, Hel. Or, whoever she was. THAT." Anders stopped, turned, and walked back to the circle of brothers standing in the front yard.

"So… you think Hel is back?" Asked Ty, cautiously. "No, that doesn't make any sense. The gods left. They went back to their home." Ty furrowed his brow and searched Axl's face.

"It could have been a different type of goddess." Proposed Mike. Hands in his pocket, face toward the ground, he took his typical stance of quiet authority and contemplation.

"What'dya mean?" asked Axl.

"Well, we know we're not… weren't... alone, right? There are Maori gods in New Zealand. What if she was… I don't know… a Greek goddess or something?"

"She sounded Canadian."

"Fine. A Canadian goddess, or whatever." Mike gave Axl a frustrated look. Axl seemed to ponder the possibility.

"Great. A whole new pantheon of goddess slags." Axl muttered.

"Can I interject for a moment?" asked Olaf, pulling the group back from their thoughts. "Even if she is some Canadian goddess or whathaveyou, how were _you _able to sense it? Most mortals can't sense the presence of any god, let alone a powerful one. Since the gods left, we're mortal… so how do you know you sensed a goddess, and didn't just have a case of a funny tummy?"

"That's actually a good point." Mike turned to look at Axl.

"I know what I felt, and I felt the same way I did when I first met Hel. The room when fuzzy and I just _knew_, man. There's no other way to say it." Axl's shoulders were up around his ears and his voice took on a tone of frustration and urgency. If this woman had been a goddess, there were a lot of questions to be answered. He had to convince his family that he was right, so they could start figuring out what was going on.

"Maybe New Zealand is just a god-magnet, and we never knew it before?" posed Ty.

"'A god...' yeah, that's got to be it, Ty," snarked Anders, "Romance has Paris, art has Rome, and the gods have Auckland. Pretty sure that's in all the brochures." He turned to Axl, "Ok, did you get her name or number?"

"I wasn't going to hit on her, man!" Axl shot back in protest.

"It's not…. how am I even a part of this family?" Anders scraped his hand down his face. "If your new girlfriend _is _a goddess, then we have a lot of questions and we need to get in touch with her, don't you think?"

"Oh. No, I… kinda… I paid and she was on the floor, so I ran out and called you guys."

"Axl, why was a goddess on the floor?" Mike turned to look up at Axl's face.

"She passed out!" Axl protested.

"Are you sure?" Ty prodded softly. "You sure she 'passed out,' and didn't just slip, and you just happened to be feeling a little queasy?"

"Hey, look! I know what I know, and I know I felt something in there. Now, are you guys gonna stop fucking around and take it seriously, or not?" His face turning red, Axl didn't feel the cold air anymore, and briefly wondered if this was what Ty felt like all the time when he was Hodr.

"We do take it seriously, Axl. But if you're right, what you're saying has big implications. She shouldn't be a Norse goddess, but even if she's something else, you shouldn't be able to sense it." Olaf put in, trying to calm the situation.

"Ok, grandpa, I feel like I already know the answer to this so I don't even know why I'm asking," Mike started with a note of resignation to his voice, "but do you know anything from the stories or mythologies that could help?"

"Well, I'm not an Oracle anymore. And even if I were, there isn't much in the stories about gods who come to Midgard, the realm of humans, take mortal hosts for centuries, and then leave. To my knowledge, that's only ever happened once before." Olaf took another drag to warm himself.

"So, what are you saying, grandpa?" Axl asked.

"We're off the books, kid." Olaf shot back. Axl exhaled a tight breath he'd been holding. "But, I might be able to work through some ideas. Lemme go talk to Ingrid and see what we come up with."

"Sounds good." Mike turned his attention back to Axl, "In the mean time, would you recognize this woman again if you saw her?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ok, good. You, Olaf, and I will go over to the shop, and see what we can find out." Mike pulled the keys from his pocket and started searching for the one to his truck.

"You know you're not the god of the hunt, anymore, right?" Anders asked Mike. "You can't just walk in, get her scent, and follow her halfway around the city."

"I wasn't planning to." Mike shot back. "I'll go and see if we can do some old fashioned _mortal _detective work." Mike smiled. Alx, Mike, and Olaf began walking toward Mike's truck, while Ty and Anders split off to their own cars.

"What did you say the name of the place was where you saw her?" Olaf asked Axl.

"It was something weird. It sounded almost Indian… Jaytin's… or, Jahtun's…"

Olaf stopped walking down the driveway. "Was it, 'Jotunn's'?" He seemed to be holding his breath as he looked at Axl. His eye's unfocused and his body tense, the air suddenly seemed a little heavier. In his younger days, Axl might not have noticed any of these signs from the oldest member of the Johnson family, but now they rang out like warning bells in his head. For a split second, he considered lying, and then realized that whatever was coming, if something _was _coming, it would be better to face it head on; he'd learned that the hard way.

"Yeeeeeeeesssss…. why?"

Olaf let out a breath and hung his head slightly. "Never did read those mythology books at all, huh? It doesn't matter; this bit's a little more obscure." Mike had initially walked around to the driver's side of the car, but now he walked back around to join the other two in conversation. "The Jotunn were a race of beings the Aesir banished to Jotunheimr…"

"Where?" asked Axl, who started rocking back and forth on his feet to keep warm as he listened.

"Jotunheimr. It's one of the nine realms, like Midgard, realm of the humans. Anyway," Olaf continued to explain, gesturing with his hands as if he could call forth images of these long lost worlds, "the Aesir banished them to Jotunheimr. The stories tell of them being giants and monsters. They were not pleased with being pushed into a different realm, and understandably so. There are some stories of the gods and goddesses going to Jotunheimr to mate with these beings, but they were never allowed to leave their own world."

"Alright. That's interesting… can we continue the conversation in the truck where it's warmer, please?" asked Mike.

"Fuck yes!" breathed Axl as he climbed into the passenger side of the truck, and Olaf crammed himself into the back.

"I should have shotgun." Olaf complained. "I'm old and you should respect your elders!" he continued in a half teasing voice. Mike started the car,

"Just keep telling us about the Jotunns…"

"Well, for one, 'Jotunn' is already plural. A single one is called a Jotnar…"

"Wait, we already know there are giants and whatever in Midgard. Gaia's dad… adopted dad… was a midget giant. So, the Jotunn escaped Jotunheimr?" Axl turned to ask his question to Olaf who only looked at him and shrugged.

"Gaia's dad was the first giant I had actually met. I only knew how to identify him because of the oracle knowledge passed down to me."

"But you said you had a trained nose!" argued Axl.

"Yeah…..I… kiiiiiiiiiiiind of made that bit up." Both Mike and Axl sighed at the lack of any further answers they were likely to get from their grandfather. Axl let his head drop back against the headrest and looked up at the roof of Mike's car while his brother drove. "Well!" Olaf continued, "I had to have a way to explain how I knew. I mean, I _did _know, but it would have been a lot longer conversation to explain how deep-seated memories can be past down through the god-spirit. Especially with a midget giant and a giant dwarf are standing in a bar."

"Ok. Hypothetically speaking, if the Jotunn can come and go from Jotunnheimr, when did this start and what does it mean?" asked Axl as he rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes.

"Well, I'm….. not exactly sure," Olaf picked his words out carefully, "but if the Jotunn are running loose through the realms at will, we may have bigger problems on our hands than one chick you saw at a sandwich counter. And without our god powers, I'm not even sure there's much we can do about it."

"We're here," announced Mike.

"We're… what?" Axl picked up his head and looked around. Furrowing his brow, he turned to Mike, "how did you know how to get here? Have you been here before?" The three men got out of the truck.

"I… no. I don't know. I was just… driving…" Mike's words drifted off as he stopped to consider the question. How _had _he found this place? He hadn't bothered asking Axl for directions, since he was listening to the conversation between the two passengers. He had just gotten behind the wheel, had wanted to go to Jotunn's, and had… "Fuck. FUCK!"

A slow, wide smile crept across Olaf's face, "You just found it, didn't you, God of the Hunt?" Axl's face went white as he whipped around to look at Mike.

"What does he mean? You're not a god anymore. None of us are!" Axl's eyes were wide as he looked between his brother and his grandfather.

"Jesus! Keep it down!" Mike said in the hoarse whisper to his younger brother. He reached out and pulled Axl close. Olaf walked in closer so the three men were huddled into a small circle near the side of the truck. "Look, maybe I saw it in passing, or maybe it was a stroke of luck. The Norse gods are gone. Let's just… just focus on finding this woman, and see what the deal is here." The men nodded in agreement and walked toward the door of the sandwich shop. As they strode the few yards between the small car park and the door to the shop, Mike turned the question over and over in his mind: how had he known where the shop was? He could tell his family anything he wanted, but he knew it for a fact….. he had never been to this part of the neighborhood before. He had just known where to go.


	7. C7 - Jotunn Wish Your Girlfriend

The three Johnson family members walked in the front door, and stopped to survey the small sandwich shop. It was clean, with lots of pictures on the wall behind the counter of the various food items offered. A large tabby cat sat by the door, licking its paws as the men walked in.

Axl took a deep breath and walked up to the counter where the old lady stood smiling at him.

"You again!" she beamed up at him from her full five feet. He hadn't noticed before, but her hair was a beautiful silvery gray and her eyes were a bright blue. She was probably something special in her younger years.

"Yup. Err, me again! Hey, um, do you remember when I was in here earlier?" His hands in his front pockets, Axl tried to approximate what a calm person might look like. He was failing.

"Yes dear… that's why I said 'you again.' Are you ok? You didn't take a spill, too, did you?" The woman peered up at Axl.

"No, he, ummm," Mike stepped up to the counter to take control of the situation. "No, he's fine. But he told us that a woman was in here earlier, and she fell and might have hit her head…?"

The old woman's face hardened a bit, "She's not looking to sue, is she? That floor wasn't wet at all! That was her own negligence…"

"No! No, no I don't think she's looking to sue," interrupted Mike, and the woman's face relaxed back into what looked like a sweet grandmother.

"What's your best sandwich?" Asked Olaf, who had sauntered up next to Mike. He looked over the meat items behind the counter, and examined the menu. He squinted a little bit, and then glanced at the old woman again, who smiled radiantly. Axl again thought that this woman was probably stunning in her youth. Her eyes were so clear, like ice water in a fjord he'd never seen.

"Well, our meat patties are pretty fine! And we do a great mutton sandwich. I get all the meat myself from local farms. It's just delicious!"

"Olaf, we're here to find out about the gi…." Mike began, but he didn't get a chance to finish.

"Yup, I'll take two meat patties and that lamb sandwich. And maybe a beer." Olaf began to turn away from the counter, but then turned back and fixed his gaze on the old woman's face, "and we'll need about 15 minutes of your time, if you don't mind, Skadi." The old woman froze and a veil seemed to fall from behind her eyes, something Mike and Axl didn't even realize was there until it was gone, exposing something more powerful than an aging sandwich maker. She could claim ignorance, but the impulse was fleeting; something told her there was little point in the pretense if the bald man already knew so much. She sighed.

"I'm not Skadi anymore, you probably know that, too. But you'll have your 15 minutes. And your patties." She gently smirked to herself as she turned and walked to the far end of the restaurant, through a door to a back room. She returned a few minutes later and a young man began taking orders from other customers. The old woman grabbed Olaf's food and ushered the three men to an empty table where they could speak without being overheard.

"So," she began, "how did you know who I am… was? And who are you three?"

"I'm Mike. I was Ullr, god of the hunt and games."

"Olaf, also known as Baldr, and oracle to my family."

"And I," said Axl, trying to summon up an air of authority and presence, "am, WAS, Odin. God of, you know, everything, pretty much." Skadi's eyes flickered over all three as they introduced themselves, but rested on Axl for a moment longer before she glanced to her left briefly to ensure no one was close enough to overhear them. She leaned back in her chair, let out a deep exhale, and turned the conversation once more to Olaf, who had opened one pattie and a beer while the introductions had been going. He tucked into his pattie while she spoke.

"So, I haven't knowingly met another god or goddess in fifteen years. To what do I owe the pleasure of three holy lads on this clear, bright day, hmm? You," she pointed to Axl, "I remember you from earlier. You here to tell me you didn't like my food? Because the way your friend here is tucking in…"

"No! I.. No! It was great!"

"...you'd think I was hiding gold in there!" Skadi finished, gesturing at Olaf who had finished the first meat pattie and was onto his second.

"This is," Olaf swallowed his mouthful, "this is really good!"

"No, we're here about the girl, earlier. The one who passed out in your shop when my brother came in." Mike leaned forward, grabbing the old woman's attention. "Do you remember her, Skadi?" She crinkled her face and sat up straight.

"I'm old, not completely senile, boy! And my name is Margaret, not Skadi. Not anymore, like I said." Something dark fluttered behind her eyes so quickly, for a moment Axl thought he had imagined it. "I remember the girl. Foreign. Nice, but a little off. Walks in, slips and falls," Mike shot Axl a glance behind Olaf's back, "then leaves almost as quickly." Margaret sat back in her chair again, as if having told a long and exhausting tale. She looked over at Olaf and a grin broke through the surface of her face. A wicked gleam caught her eye.

"Like my patties, eh? I'm good with meat." Axl coughed, trying to cover a laugh at the half-hidden double-entendre. Whatever her age, it was unlikely she was older than their grandfather, who was coming up on his 99th birthday, but that didn't mean he wanted a shag that might end in her needing hip replacement. Olaf felt a swig of beer he'd taken try to make a hasty exit via his nose.

"Look, Margaret," Mike tried to take control of the situation, fearing where this conversation could go, "the thing is, we really need to talk to that girl. Now, I'm betting you know something, something that could help us." Mike smiled, flirting a bit with the woman in hopes of pressing his mortal luck.

"Sorry," she sighed, sounding legitimately remorseful, "but she was in and out. I never got a name, and she didn't buy anything with a card, so I couldn't help you there." The opened her hands as if to say that her resources were as empty as her roughened palms. Mike hung his head, and Axl and Olaf let out breaths they didn't know they had been holding. They got up, and Mike offered his hand to Margaret to shake.

"Right then. Well, thanks anyway," he said, as the men got up to leave. Margaret rose from her chair, looking the men over. She started walking towards the back of the store.

Axl gently nudged Mike's arm as they put their jackets on to leave. "Good try."

"Eh?"

"Good try," Axl repeated, "with the, 'I bet you know something' trick. If you'd been full on god powers, we might'a had something."

"Oh. Right." Mike cleared his throat and briefly studied his shoes while he pulled on his coat.

"Hey! You lot, wait!" Axl shot Mike a quick and slightly quizzical glance. Margaret was flapping her hand high in the air and scurrying toward them like they'd stolen her best cleaver. Her chest puffed a bit when she got to them, and Olaf took a moment to remind himself that women aged like wines, and sometimes that wine was made from ripe, round grapes that appeared to be shocking firm for their age.

"Did you remember something? Her name?!"

"No, no! Nothing like that!" Margaret shot Axl an annoyed glance, as if his stupidity was wasting whatever time she had left. "I told you, she never gave me her name!"

"Then…. what?" Mike asked, not sure what could have made the woman act like she had the winning lotto numbers.

"When she fell, I remember thinking how lucky it was that I didn't see her in a car, because she was in no condition to drive." Margaret's face beamed at the three men, who simply stood and looked at her in dumb silence. She sighed. "We're not directly in front of any major transportation lines. Odds are, she stumbled across this shop. Without a car, that would mean wherever she's staying, she's within walking distance." Margaret leaned in a bit, this time waiting to see if gods really were as daft as she had heard, or if they would be able to ride the logic train from there. Mike's eyes were the first to light up, followed by Axl's. Olaf simply reached out to take Margaret's hand, and lifted it gently to his lips.

"That is tremendously, tremendously helpful, Maggie. Thank you." He glanced up into her face as his mouth covered her knuckles slowly. She smiled a deep smile as their eyes met. " You wouldn't happen to like grapes, would you?"

"Ho! We should be leaving!" announced Mike, clearing his throat and grabbing one of Olaf's arms.

"Yup! Ok, gramps!" Axl grabbed Olaf's other arm, and tried very hard not to consider what the family patriarch would do with Margaret the sandwich shop owner, grapes, and an hour or two alone. Mike and Axl spun Olaf around and marched him out front to the car park.

"Ok, that was weird," Axl broke the silence once the three men were in the quiet confines of the truck. "So, who is Skadi, again? Is she the goddess of meat patties or something?"

"You're not too far off," began Olaf. "Did you feel anything when looking at her?" His voice didn't contain even a hint of teasing, which was the only reason Axl took a second to really consider the question before turning his head to look into the back seat.

"No, grandpa! Ew! I mean, I'm sure she's a hot number on the geriatric circuit… you sure took a fancy to her... but I like girls who are more… not your age." Olaf chuckled, and it hurt Axl's heart a little. His grandfather sounded more and more like an old man every day.

"Well, if you didn't feel anything for her, that would be a bit of a surprise. Skadi is the goddess of bowhunting, so it's not surprising that she has a meat shop," Olaf began.

"I'm the…. I was Ullr, the god of hunts and games. Why don't I have an obsession with leather jackets, or eat steak every night, then?" Mike cut in.

Olaf puffed some air out in a frustrated sigh, "From what I recall, the godly powers manifest somewhat differently with each human host. Maybe a previous host to Ullr was a furrier, or a cattle rancher. I don't know." Olaf turned his attention back to Axl, "But you, in particular, should have felt something. Skadi _is _a goddess, but she is a halfbreed. Her father was a jotnar. She and Odin were married, and it is said that they had many, maaaaaaaany children." A mischievous smile swept across Olaf's face as he awaited the reaction he knew was coming.

"What? With her?! I was married to her?!" Axl cringed and looked a bit green.

"Hey, it's not so bad," Mike chimed in with a smile as he started up the truck, "Just think if the situations had been reversed: Hanna could have been Skadi, and Margaret could have been the Frigg."

"Does that mean you and Maggie would be living together now, Mike?" Axl turned to his brother with a sarcastic tone and glint in his eye.

"We… should probably get going." Mike turned the key and jammed the truck into gear, as both Axl and Olaf smiled to themselves. "What about you, grandpa? You seemed to take a liking to her."

"It's the meat. Skadi is a skilled huntress, and it's said that the taste of her meat can make anyone, god or man, fall in love with her."

"I'll leave that one completely alone, thanks," said Axl to himself. Mike drove back to the building site as all three men pondered the scenario in silence. They had learned a lot at the sandwich shop, and each of them knew that whatever was going on, it was all bigger than one foreign girl taking a tumble. Gods and goddesses; sometimes it felt like they were never going to leave.


	8. Chapter 8 - Hurry Up & Wait

The coffee stop had been a bust, and from the deepest pit of Sarah's stomach, she had felt the urge to bolt from the little sandwich shop the minute she walked in the door. Instead, she had humiliated herself by fainting. She pushed the thoughts aside when she spotted a Starbucks.

"Fine. Perfect!" She marched straight in, ordered a hot chocolate, got the wifi password and settled into a fluffy chair to await her overpriced drink. She stopped for a moment to take in her surroundings. Ok, fair, the day hadn't gone exactly to plan, and she was in a country where she knew no one and no one knew her, but she was finally _really _travelling, and it felt amazing. Maybe, once things were settled a bit, she'd take a tour of…. something historic. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket, pulled up a browser window, typed in the wifi password, and focused on reaching out to the few contacts she did have. She had been going through genealogy sites online, trying to determine if her parents had left behind any siblings in their mad dash from their homeland. A few names had popped up, but no major hits. Then, finally, someone online had reached out and handed her a ton of information. Heaps of people, including some Freebergs, had been on a boat bound from Norway to New Zealand. Sarah couldn't imagine how long a trip like that must take; a person or people would have to want to run pretty far from something to risk a voyage like that. She pulled up her contact's email and began typing a note.

"Hey. Got…. here...fine. Found..a...place….to….crash." Sarah snorted. It was doubtful one "crashed" at a fancy hotel, but she let it go. "Was….wondering….if...we….could….meet up….to….discuss….research...options. Thanks…..Sarah." She hit "send" as the barrista began his call,

"FARRAH?! Hot chocolate for FARRAH?!"

"Ugh." She got up to see if there were any Farrahs approaching, and came to the sad conclusion that the drink was probably for her. She grabbed her cup and walked back to her comfy chair. Her inbox had a new email by the time she sat down.

"Sarah! Welcome to New Zealand! So glad you could make it! I'm actually free now, if you wanted to meet for a drink." A drink? thought Sarah. It was barely 11am! Well…

"Well….I'm…. ...Starbucks…..now…. care…...to…...join?" She punched the address in, hit "send," and leaned back into her chair to take a few sips. The heat of the drink permeated her stomach, leaving her feeling relaxed and calm. A couple of minutes later, her phone beeped at her. Sarah looked down to see she had another email from her contact.

"Sure! Will meet you in 10 minutes… maybe 20!" Sarah smiled. They'd exchanged a few brief conversations about items not specifically relating to genealogy, and Sarah already knew she was going to like this "ICGene75." She took another sip of her hot chocolate, and listened to the music coming out of the speakers, pumping "Hurry Up And Wait" into the room. Now that, Sarah thought, is pretty damn appropriate right now. She stared out of the windows and kept drinking from her white paper cup.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Goddess Jumper

The fish were swimming in lazy laps around the tank. Back and forth, back and forth. Anders had read somewhere that watching fish swim was calming, and he needed calm right now. He was in a mood that not even booze could manage, and that was saying quite a bit. Besides, he was pretty sure he had drunk everything in the apartment, short of the cough medicine, and that was a line he just wasn't willing to cross yet. Back and forth, the little fish flitted around like tiny golden angels. It was soothing. It was soothing to wonder what life must be like for them. His goldfish had never known any real predators, they were fed, and kept at a comfortable temperature. They never had to worry about anything. They just lived their lives, assuming that they would be cared for as they always had been.

He sat in his plush chair with his back to the kitchen/bar. The fish were off to his right. He turned his head and stared straight ahead at the brick wall. He wasn't big into metaphors and symbolism, but a brick wall in front of him seemed oddly appropriate at this juncture in his life. His quest to find the tree of life, Yggdrasil, while successful, had left him essentially bankrupt. He had hoped his mother would provide him with the finances to pay off all of the debts he'd accrued during the trip, but she had been dead by the time he'd returned. Well, "dead" isn't accurate when talking about kindling, really. Anders scrubbed a hand down his face, stopping to rub the heel of his hand over an eye. More than that, the trip had cost him all of his clients, so he didn't even have an income from which to rebuild. If he was still full of Bragi goodness, still juiced up, he could have gotten new clients… but he wasn't. "I haven't been for months!" he whispered to himself. His left hand balled into a fist as he stared at the wall. He hadn't needed to fight for anything since he was 21 years old, and he was sorely out of practice. He wasn't even sure he could do it any more. There were other ad agencies that had gotten by on skill and cunning, while he had used his advantage to bring in whatever he wanted. Who was he without his god? Anders felt lost. He'd never felt lost before, or, if he had, he would drink until a path appeared, and stumble down it. Maybe throw up on it, but usually he'd wake up at his destination, and often in bed with a beautiful woman or three.

That cough medicine was starting to sound pretty good right now.

He smirked, and the act of smiling felt tight and difficult. He took both hands and rubbed his eyes again. "FUCK, MAN! This isn't you! You're ANDERS-BLOODY-JOHNSON, not Ty. You don't mope!" His hands dropped to his thighs and he sighed. Just as he was about to get up and search for food in his apartment, the doorbell rang. He buzzed whoever it was, and walked into his kitchen. He was digging in the fridge when Axl, Mike, and Olaf walked in.

Anders popped his head up to see who had walked through his door. "Shit, it's the three amigos. Did you bring any beer?" he asked, before returning to rifling through his cabinets to determine whether an errant bottle of vodka had been hiding.

"Ummm, no," said Mike.

"Then fuck right off, thank you!" Anders said cheerfully as he continued to search his kitchen.

"Anders," said Axl as he advanced into the sitting area of the small apartment, "we need to talk to you."

"Have you been noticing anything… _weird… _lately?" Olaf asked as he flopped down onto the couch.

"Well," said Anders, popping his head up and gazing off in the distance as if pondering the mechanics of the universe, "there's a geriatric former god sitting in my living room, my two brothers who haven't stopped by in ages are standing here for no discernable reason, and more importantly, I'm out of fucking booze. And you dicks didn't bring any." With that, Anders moved to the fridge to search it once more, even though he knew the contents by heart, and none of them were alcoholic.

"Are you on the rag or something, Anders? You're more... Anders-y than usual." Axl said, half joking, but with a note of concern to his voice. Mike just looked on at his brothers, well-worn lines of worry had etched themselves into his face over the years. He had been Anders's father far more than he had been his brother, and a father could feel some things in his gut. Mike chimed in,

"Thing is, there's Axl's girl…"

"She's not _my _girl!" Axl interrupted.

"...and ever since she's come 'round, weird things have been starting to happen to us. All three of us. Well, two of us…. grandad was never all up on his powers anyway."

"I heard that!" Olaf said in mock offense.

"What? You mean god shit?" Anders stopped what he was doing and walked over to his brothers. He folded his arms under his chest while he listened. If his brothers were right, this was pretty damn important.

"Well, Axl 'felt' this girl's…. I don't know how to call it…" Mike searched for the words.

"Breasts?" posed Anders, helpfully.

"GOD powers. He felt her power, like when we all met Hel. Then Olaf, Axl and I got into my truck, and I was able to find the sandwich shop without directions. I shouldn't have been able to do that. Then grandpa knew that the woman who ran the shop was a Jotnar…"

"Wait," Anders put his hand out to stop Mike, "she's a jumper? Like, a wool christmas jumper? Can jumpers be goddesses?"

"JOTNAR. It's…. whatever, forget that," continued Mike, "what I'm saying is, our powers are, they seem to be returning. A bit. I don't know." All three men silently turned their heads to look at Olaf who was still sitting on Anders's couch, facing the other way. They were going to have to ask him questions, and he probably would either not know the answer, or would give some crazy, bullshit philosophical answer that would give them all headaches.

"Grandpa…." Axl said slowly as they all walked over to sit around Olaf who had rested his head on the back of Anders's couch, and looked to be dozing. He looked up, and over to his right. "Grandpa, you wouldn't have any idea what's going on, would you? This girl, our powers…. anything at all, here?" Axl gently prodded verbally. Olaf looked straight ahead and his gaze went unfocused.

"Things have been set into motion, the outcome is unclear." Axl sighed at Olaf's lack of specificity.

"And do we know what things?" Mike leaned in a bit closer from where he sat on Olaf's left.

"Things….. that seemed clear before….. will be clear soon." Olaf said, and finished it all off with, "Hm. Anyone fancy a beer?" The brothers groaned, but Mike and Axl stood up and figured it was best to call it a day. The looked over to Anders, who still sat in his comfy chair.

"Well?" prodded Mike, impatiently, "Are you coming or what?"

"Oh." Genuine surprise covered his face, but Anders quickly regained his composure. "Yeah, sure." He grabbed his coat and they walked to the door.

"You know what's weird?" said Olaf as they walked out of the apartment, "I'm actually more in the mood for a coffee."


	10. Chapter 10 - Family Oracle Comes Through

"Coffee," said Olaf. "I need… no, not this place."

"Seriously, Olaf!" Shouted Mike from behind the driver's seat of his truck.

"Grandpa, they serve coffee at that place." Axl was pointing to the small coffee shop the truck was now driving by. He sighed. It wasn't like Olaf to be so picky, and it was driving Axl nuts.

"No, I want one of those fruity, fluffy, coffee drinks from that place with the green sign."

Anders piped up from the back seat, "Oh for heaven's sake! Mike, he wants Starbucks. There's one right nearby. Just hang a left here." He directed Mike, and everyone got out of the truck in the lot right next to a small shop with dark windows and a round green sign.

"Yes!" shouted Olaf. Mike, Axl, and Anders just stared as Olaf walked at a quick clip, his sandals flopping on his feet. They trotted over to go inside with their grandfather who had never, to anyone's knowledge, wanted a coffee in his life…. when he wasn't hung over. They walked inside and scanned the shop and stopped.

Mike was the first to say it, "INGRID? What are you doing here? I didn't know you liked pouf-coffee." Ingrid looked up and a smile beamed from her face.

"Wow," whispered Anders to Axl as they walked up to the woman sitting in the low chair, "the family oracle finally comes through!'

"Oh hello boys!" Ingrid said happily. "Well no, I don't really, but I'm meeting a friend. Since our… time in the woods... I've had to figure out how to make money, and I've been doing some work online…"

"Ingrid," Axl interrupted as he leaned in close to her, concern blanketing his face. Her smile dropped away and her eyes went curious. Mike looked around the shop, Anders checked out the barristas, and Olaf just stood there, scratching his chest. "Ingrid, if you're in some kind of trouble and you're doing, you know, _stuff _online to make some money, I can always help you out." Ingrid's face went from curious to confused.

"Sorry, what?"

"Are you doing anything, you know," he waved his hand discretely, hoping she would get the gist, "naked?" Ingrid's eyes twinkled as she laughed.

"What? No! I'm working on helping people out with finding things and searches. This one girl needs help with genealogy. But look, I've actually wanted to call you boys, because… oh! Here she comes!" From across the room walked a small brunette. She looked up to see the group of men gathered around Ingrid, spotted Axl, and hesitated for a moment.

The room spun on its side and everything started to melt together into a blur of colors. Axl was prepared, so he steadied himself, and it looked like the young woman was taking it better than last time, as well. But Olaf, Anders, and Axl looked a bit green in the face for a minute or so, before the woman got to their side.

"Do I….?"

"Yeah, um," said Axl, "We kinda saw each other at the sandwich shop this morning…?" she smiled lightly at him.

"And you know Ingrid. Small wor…..island," she said.

"Ahh yes," interrupted Mike, who had regained his composure, "we go way back. I'm Mike, that's my brother Axl, and this is our cousin, Olaf." Olaf seemed to have come out of whatever trance he was in, and smiled down at the woman. She returned it easily, then walked around the men to sit down across from Ingrid.

"I'm Sarah. Do you all do genealogy, too? Or, do you randomly visit coffee shops for fun?" The question was light, but there was an edge to it. Anders knew she was wondering how much of a coincidence it really was that she was seeing Axl twice in one day. If they did need her, whoever or whatever she was, scaring her into running off would be a problem.

"No, uh, Axl and Mike were working on a job site nearby, and cousin Olaf and I were just, umm…. spending some quality time together." An impulse took over Anders, and he gently leaned in toward the woman, locking eyes with her, "We didn't mean to run into you today," he said in a soothing, almost mumble-y voice, "but it's a nice coincidence. We'd love to hear all about you, where you come from, and what you're doing here." Sarah's eyes glazed over a bit, but she shook her head as if a gnat was near her. Ingrid looked from Anders to Sarah, curious to see how the situation played out.

"Sorry, right, it is funny running into you again," Sarah glanced at Axl and then back to Anders. "I hope I'm as lucky with my family."

"You're looking for family here?" asked Mike. Olaf walked over to Ingrid's side, knelt down so they were face to face from where she sat.

"Fancy a cup of whatever they serve here?" He whispered to her. She smiled and they got up.

Sarah watched them go, but turned her attention back to Mike, "Uh, yeah. Yeah, my parents moved to the U.S. before I was born. They never kept in touch with anyone, and I was hoping there were still family members here. I met Ingrid online, and she's been helping me with the search." Anders walked around and took Ingrid's empty chair. To his knowledge, his powers didn't work on gods and goddesses, but Sarah had seemed somewhat receptive. If she really did just arrive from America, maybe her fatigue and disorientation left her vulnerable. It was an interesting though. Even more interesting was that he had any powers at all to try out.

"Do you know anything about where they were from? What's their last name?" Axl asked with genuine interest.

"Freeberg," answered Ingrid, who was walking back to the group. Anders got up to give her the seat, and she graced him with a warm smile. "There were Freebergs aboard the Hofting. As you all know, several years ago I took quite an interest in the descendants of the voyagers, and Sarah here reached out to me." Olaf stood behind Ingrid and looked at Sarah, suddenly squinting.

"Do you have cats, by any chance?" he asked.

"Um, yeah. I have two back in the US. My roommate is looking after them for me. Why?"

"Nope, no reason. I've just been…" Olaf put his hand on Ingrid's shoulder as he stood behind her chair.

"Cats…" she whispered absently to herself. Her eyes refocused, and she looked around at the men, and then focused in on Sarah. "We need to talk. We should probably do it in private though." A look of determination had come over her face. Mike took this as his cue.

"I'll tell you what: why don't the guys and I head over to my apartment, and Ingrid and Sarah, you just meet us there. We'll have a nice dinner to welcome you to Auckland, how's that sound?" That seemed a bit sudden for Sarah, but she reminded herself that not every place was New York, and not everyone had an ulterior motive. Besides, these people might be able to help her.

"Yeah, ok. I mean, if I'm not imposing…" she looked around at the men and at Ingrid.

"Nope, sounds great!" Mike quickly began fishing his keys out of his pocket.

"I'll call Ty and Dawn" said Anders as they all stood up and got ready to go. Ingrid took the somewhat startled Sarah and they walked out to catch a cab.

"Mike," Axl said as they walked out of the shop, "Is Hanna really gonna be thrilled at a ton of unplanned company for dinner?"

"No, but she'll feel a lot better about it when she realizes what's going on." Mike pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket with his right hand, and flipped the truck's keys with his left.

"I don't even know what's going on," Axl said with some frustration.

"The same thing that's ever going on with us," began Anders, as he clapped Axl on the back. "Shit gets weird, shit gets fucked up, you wing it, and I'll end up having to save you. Sounds like a Tuesday to me!" A smile crept across Anders's face, and a glint in his eye that Axl hadn't realized was missing until just then. He was glad to see it back, and laughed off the comment.


	11. Chapter 11 - Vomiting Glitter

"So…. I went ahead and raised someone from the dead today. Like you do." Hanna began when she picked up Mike's call. Mike bit his tongue; he had forgotten to tell her she was on speaker. He would have to be more careful in the future.

"Umm, yeah, that's sorta why I'm calling."

"Did you tell her about Axl's Yankee goddess?" Shouted Anders from the back seat of Mike's truck.

"She's not MY anything!" Axl said back, grinding his teeth.

"Look," began Mike, "Ingrid and the boys are coming over for dinner, and she's bringing someone special."

"I'm not prepared for an entire Johnson family dinner, Mike!" Hanna's voice ticked up a bit at the thought of eight mouths to feed in an hour. And if Olaf was coming, it might as well be ten mouths, the way that man put food away.

"Hanna, this is important. We'll order pizza or whatever, but this dinner has to do with the gods. There's someone in town, and it seems like it's affecting everyone. She might be the reason you, you know…"

"Zombified someone?" Suggested Anders with a smile on his face. Mike shot back a scornful look. "What? Just trying to help out a former Frigg," Anders smiled.

Mike hung up, and they headed over to his apartment. Anders texted Ty letting him know to meet them, and Ty responded that Dawn wasn't feeling great; still having morning sickness. He would be coming alone. And yes, Anders, he promised he would bring some alcohol.

The apartment was on the first floor of a two story condo. It wasn't large, but it was big enough to fit the Johnson clan, plus a few extra. There was also a spare bedroom for when Olaf had to crash somewhere. Which is to say, he essentially lived there, rent-free. Hanna didn't mind too much, as neither she nor Mike were pressed for cash since his gambling winnings five months earlier. Ty and Hanna walked in just as the others were starting their second round of beers. Ty grabbed a beer and Hanna grabbed a glass of wine, taking a spot next to Mike on the couch.

"So, who is this mystery guest? Or, would a better question be, _what _is she?" Hanna snuggled in closer to Mike, and he wrapped his arm around her.

"We _think _she's some kind of a goddess…" Mike began.

"A Yankee goddess," finished Anders. Hanna looked between the two men.

"What? Like a Native American goddess or something?" asked Ty. The others in the room exchanged glances. It could be possible, they all seemed to think.

"OK, maybe," said Anders, "but we didn't feel the same surge of god power with the Maori gods as we did when we all met Hel. This felt the same. Logic would seem to indicate that she's Norse, not Nez Pierce."

"Nez-who?" Axl shot at Anders.

"It was a Native American tribe," answered Ty, as he sipped his beer and mulled the situation over in his head. He was very hopeful that he would not get the overwhelming urge to kill/fuck this potential goddess when her finally met her. That would severely complicate things with Dawn.

"Right, well, whatever she is, she'll have to eat. Axl," Hanna smiled at the youngest Johnson, "do us a favor and call the pizza place. Let's order… six pies." Axl nodded and loped into the kitchen to make the call. He was greeted by the sound of tires on gravel when he walked back into the living room. Everyone exchanged glances, and Ty steadied himself for whatever might come. He told himself that if he had to pack Dawn up and shoot through to the South Islands, that was bloody well what he would do. With that resolve firmly planted in his mind, he gripped the back of the couch where Mike and Hanna sat, preparing for the waves he had heard would hit him when he met this woman. The doorbell rang. No one moved.

"I guess I'll get it," said Axl, half to himself as he walked to the door. He opened it, and was nearly crushed in the full-body hug from Ingrid.

"She's, um, tipsy" Sarah said, trying to hide her grin. "I told her I wanted to bring a bottle of wine, and I think she drank the first two I had considered. This," she presented the bottle to Axl, "was the only one I could keep away from her."

"I love youuuuuuuuuuu," Ingrid slurred into Axl's chest, before plodding into the living room to greet everyone else.

"Right. That's sorta standard around here," Axl reassured Sarah. He took the bottle with a smile, and she followed Ingrid into the living room, just inside. Everyone was drinking and sitting in relative silence.

"Have I interrupted something?" Sarah looked at the faces around the room. Some she had gotten used to seeing, some were new.

"No, no, I'm sorry. Hi, I'm Hanna." Sarah gratefully shook the extended hand and reciprocated the smile.

"Is this your place? It's very nice."

"Yes, I live here with Mike. And sometimes Olaf. Often," Hanna admitted, "with Olaf." Ingrid was sitting next to Olaf in another chair, and he had his arm around her. Sarah wasn't sure if it was out of affection, or to ensure Ingrid didn't topple off while holding her beer. "We've, uh, we've ordered pizza, so I hope you like that."

"Oh yeah!" Sarah took an empty chair, "And thanks so much for having me, I..."

"Oh for fuck's sake. Sarah, did you know you're a goddess?"

"ANDERS!" shouted Mike as he stood holding the pizza boxes, his face turning purple with rage.

"Look, I know we should ease her into it, but I don't have all night and there are a lot of questions to answer."

"Anders is actually…." Ingrid paused for a moment as her eyes went unfocused, then she hiccuped and came back to herself, "right." He's right. Dear," Ingrid now turned her attention to Sarah who looked frozen where she sat. She was so still, only her eyes moved, and Axl briefly worried that she wasn't even breathing. "You're a goddess. I don't know if there are other gods and goddess in America, but you are most certainly some kind of power. I know this is a lot to take in," Ingrid's voice became calmer and held a tone of empathy. She gestured slowly with her beer while she talked, "And you may not even believe me, but…"

"Sure."

Ingrid's eyes popped open, and the room went still. It was everyone else's turn to hold their breaths.

"Wha… what do you mean, 'sure'?" asked Mike, gently.

"I mean," continued Sarah, "sure, I believe you."

"Well," said Anders, "that went, uhh, surprisingly well." He looked over at Sarah to see if she was lying in an attempt to placate people she might think were a cult of crazies.

"I don't think you're a cult of crazies or anything like that. If anything, this explains more than any other option." Sarah sat back in her chair and exhaled. Somewhere nearby, a cat mewled in the dark. "My parents… it's not a happy marriage. Dad can get kind of crazy and run off for a while, and mom will get angry and sleep around. It's like they can't help it. And over the years, it seems like it's gotten worse. I think that's why they tried to be so religious; each time they had their bouts, they would come back and recommit themselves and try again to be," Sarah stopped to search for the right word, and let it go on a deep exhale, "normal. My entire childhood, I felt they were hiding something. I would hear them, when they thought I was sleeping. They would argue about coming back here. They would debate whether things would be better or worse with other gods around, but I always thought they were drunk, or making up stories, or knew I was awake. But I think, in the back of my mind, I always knew that most parents don't have fights about who tried to sleep with Thor on a country road trip." A beer appeared in front of her, and she took it with a grateful glance to the brother she had just learned was Ty.

"Tell us about when you turned 21, dear," Ingrid asked in a soft voice, and Sarah's eyes shot wide.

"How did you know…?"

"It happens to all of us," said Axl. Sarah's brow furrowed as a confused look crossed her face, but she took a deep breath and continued.

"I was on my way to work one morning when the subway car I was on derailed." The room went silent again as confused glances shot between the family.

"No…. lightening?" asked Ty. "No, glowy lights and feelings of power?"

"I...maybe? I don't know. One second the car was on the tracks, and the next minute it went flying and sparks were shooting everywhere. Does everyone destroy public transportation when they turn 21?" No one answered. "Anyway, that's when all the weird shit began… which is sorta why I'm here."

"What weird shit, exactly?" asked Mike.

"I don't know… Suddenly, friends who I knew were trying to get pregnant were having twins. I'd meet someone at a party, and instantly know who they should be dating. One couple, I set them up on a whim, and they got married six months later! Even my cats got pregnant, and I had them fixed at the vet!" Sarah rubbed her hand through her hair and took a sip of her beer. "But then, around six months ago, I thought it had all stopped. Suddenly, it was like everything in the world seized up. It was, like, five o'clock in the morning and I was asleep in bed. Then all of a sudden, I…" Sarah stopped, and a fierce blush overtook her face.

"You, what?" gently prodded Axl. She looked him square in the eyes, and stated,

"I vomited up glitter." Everyone in the room was silent, but it was the silence of trying to hold in a laugh. Ingrid was the first to fail, and soon the whole room was laughing hysterically, including Sarah.

"I… I SWEAR!" she was choking on laughter and trying to keep her beer upright. "I was asleep in bed, and all of a sudden I feel my mouth open and this light and glitter come shooting out!" everyone's face was red. Mike had long since put the pizzas on the coffee table, but he walked to the kitchen, still coughing with laughter, to get some plates for the group. When the laughter had settled, Sarah continued, her face a little more serious than before. "Since then, it was like all the weird shit that had been happening to me, it all suddenly stopped. I had been in an economics class, and had been doing better than anyone else, but all of a sudden, it was like I couldn't remember my strategies. I had no idea what I was doing." Anders felt his face flush. He knew what it felt like to suddenly be lost. "But… then it started coming back." Sarah finished with a swig from her beer.

"Say again?" Anders leaned in as though he hadn't heard her.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "it just started coming back. Little things, like the cats following me around again. I would see a person and feel like they would be great with this other person I knew. But it's been getting stronger." She looked at the entire group now, searching their faces for help. "And if you guys know about gods and goddess, then maybe you can help me. Do you know anyone else like me? Anyone at all?"

Mike sat up straight, and said softly, "Until recently, I was Ullr, god of the hunt."

" of Asgard and wife to Odin," said Hanna.

"I'm Odin," said Axl with a sheepish smile.

"Wait, you're" Sarah pointed to Mike, "dating your brother's wife?"

"What? No! No, it's um, a little complex," Mike said, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.

"Baldr," said Olaf, calling attention to himself, "and family oracle."

"I'm Snotra, "goddess of prudence, and also an oracle." Ingrid took Olaf's hand and squeezed it gently.

"I'm Bragi, god of poetry."

"...and panties!" said Mike, under his breath. Anders shot him a wink and a smile.

Sarah looked to Ty, "Are you a god as well?" He cleared his throat,

"I was Hodr, god of all things dark and cold." Sarah's eyes lingered on him for a moment. Thoughts flittered past her dark pupils, but they were impossible for Ty to read and she looked away before he even knew what he wanted to see.

"Right, so, all Norse gods then. And my parents were Norse gods. But, I was born in America… does that change anything?" Sarah looked up to Ingrid, but it was Olaf who answered.

"No, you're definitely a Norse goddess. All the signs are there."

"Do you know what gods your parents were?" Ingrid asked.

"No." Sarah shook her head, and looked at the brothers, "What about you?"

"Our dad was Njordr, god of the sea. And our mom was Freyja, goddess of prosperity," replied Ty.

"No, she wasn't," Olaf said with a sigh. Ingrid's hand gently fluttered down on his thigh and a sadness covered her face.

"What do you mean, 'no she wasn't'?!" said Mike, "Of course she was!"

"She wasn't Freyja, Mike," began Olaf, but it was Ingrid who finished his thought,

"Sarah is." The room went silent, and everyone turned to look at the American, sitting in Mike and Hanna's living room. The American held her breath and looked back.


	12. Chapter 12 - Who We Thought We Were

Chapter 12: Who We Thought We Were

"Waitwaitwait," Anders put his hand up, trying to pause the train of the conversation that had seemed to derail somewhere around Insanityville. "Elizabet… Agnetha, she was our mother."

"I never said she wasn't," Olaf replied serenely.

"And Agnetha WAS Freyja," Axl cut in. The room was tense and full of confusion.

"I was fooled, too, for a very long time. Until we were all at Starbucks, and Ingrid and I both put the signs together at the same time."

"What signs, grandpa?" Mike was barely containing his frustration at the slow pace of the discussion. He wanted answers.

"Well," chimed in Ingrid, "first there were the cats. Do you remember the cats that were yowling behind your apartment, Ty?" The brother nodded slowly. "Freyja is associated with cats, so it would make sense that they would become excited by her arrival here."

"But Ingrid and I still weren't sure, until tonight. When Sarah was talking about her goddess powers, it all came together. Freyja is the goddess of fertility and love and sex and war…" Olaf continued.

"Damn. My kind of goddess!" Anders quipped and winked at Sarah, who turned red and decided that the carpeting on the floor was really the safest place to focus her eyes.

"But mother was the goddess of PROSPERITY. She was RICH!" Ty chimed in. "Who else but Freyja could have that kind of luck with money?"

"That's the thing I keep telling you boys," Olaf sighed with exasperation. "God powers manifest differently, depending on the host. Ullr, here, could just as easily have built up an empire. Gambling, sure, but he could have a lot of money, too."

"Then, who…?" Axl began, but just looked between Ingrid and Olaf with confusion. Ingrid put her hand on Olaf's thigh, and Olaf took the sign. Nobody would like what had to be said, and she wanted it done as gently as possible.

"We think your mother might have actually been Gridr." Ingrid let the words out slowly, but then continued when she saw no one in the room recognized the name. "Gridr is associated with greed, and while no Norse being is really inherently evil, Gridr comes pretty close. Nothing gets in the way of her plans, which," Ingrid turned to look directly at Axl, "would explain how a mother could try to have her son killed by a handmaiden or married off to Hel. That doesn't really sound like the actions of a family-oriented goddess. It explains why she left her family to fend for themselves so she could become a tree…"

"Sorry, a what-now?" asked Sarah.

"And," concluded Olaf, "it also probably explains some of the turbulence in your parents' marriage." All eyes turned to him as he took a deep breath to put the final nail in the coffin, "Gridr isn't a goddess; she's Jotunn."

It was as if, Sarah thought, she was sitting inside a painting; everything seemed real around her, but nothing moved. She felt a pang of sympathy for these kind people. What's worse: never knowing who you and your family are, or finding out that you've been wrong your entire life and everything you think you know was probably a lie? She didn't know what a "Jotunn" was, but the way that Olaf guy had said it, it didn't sound positive.

"Is, is a Jotunn like a demon or something?" Sarah hesitantly broke the silence to ask.

"They were a race of monsters," Mike answered, his eyes wide and unfocused, staring blankly at the carpet under his feet. Hanna slowly stroked his hair, her brows drawn with concern.

"I've gotta go," Anders popped up out of his chair. "I'm sorry, I've just…." he didn't finish his thought before walking out.

"Come on, Axl," said Ty, putting his beer down in the kitchen. "I think this party is over. I'll drive you home."

"Ta," Axl said absent-mindedly as he stood up from his chair. "It was, um, lovely to see you again, Sarah." Axl said as he passed by her on his way to the door. She gave him an awkward grimace, and they both pretended it was a smile. Mike picked his eye up to see everyone leaving.

"Sorry about this, Sarah. This isn't how our typical evenings go." He looked at her and was surprised to see how sad she looked. She was sad for them, he knew, and it was an endearing trait. Maybe all New Yorkers weren't evil and soulless. He might visit the city one day.

"It's ok. I'm sorry about your mom. I guess nobody here is who we thought we were." She took a sip from her beer and sighed.

"Look, you're all still who you thought you were, right?" comforted Ingrid. "The only thing that's changed is who your mother said she was. Elizabet, tree, Agnetha, Freyja, or Gridr; you are all still who you are." Ty and Axl nodded, but walked out the front door without another word.


	13. C13 - Where Have All The Good Men Gone?

The inside of Mike's truck warmed quickly, and Sarah thanked him again for the ride back to the hotel.

"It's no problem, not after the evening we've put you through." His truck slipped along the road smoothly, and Sarah felt herself relaxing in spite of the tumultuous events of the day. She reminded herself that maybe falling asleep in a car with a man you don't really know isn't a great idea, and tried to focus the conversation on something that would keep awake.

"So…. did I hear something about your mom being a tree, or..?"

"Oh. Yeah, the day I turned 21, she helped me through the ritual of becoming Ullr. Then she just kinda, shot through," he turned to see the quizzical look on her face. "She left. Just walked off into the woods and turned into a tree. Later, we found out she got bored of that life pretty fast..."

"She got bored of the fascinating life of a shrub?! Madness."

Mike chuckled and continued, "Yeah, well, she got bored and transferred her spirit into the body of a woman who had been killed in her forest. That was Agnetha. Then, she built up this huge empire and we only found out about her again two years ago." There was silence in the truck for a moment while Mike thought about all that had transpired in the past few years, and Sarah took in the fact that the man sitting next to her was related to a tree. She leaned her head back against the headrest and considered everything.

"Do you think she felt guilty every time she printed out a report at work?" Sarah quipped. Mike smiled in spite of himself. "Really. That could have been her best friend, Charlie. Charlie the tree!" Mike began chuckling harder. "And of course, you know that every time you hugged her, you were, technically, a tree-hugger, right? Do they sell birkenstocks here? You might have to go vegan!" Mike started wiping the tears from his eyes, trying to see the road and not laugh them into an accident in the dark. Sarah smiled and looked out of the window, letting Mike settle. Nothing had changed, but at least both of their moods had improved a bit. The car continued gliding through the night until it came up to the entrance of her hotel.

"Nice place!" Mike smiled at Sarah.

"Yeah, I don't remember checking in here and I keep meaning to change hotels… this place has got to be costing me a fortune! But for now, at least I have a home base. Have you ever been inside?"

"No. I'd probably bring the property value down just by walking in."

"Ha! Well, they'll probably throw me out when they find out I can't really afford it." Sarah reached into the pocket of her jacket and fumbled around, muttering. She reached into the other pocket of her jacket, grumbled, then let out a frustrated breath. "Right. I think I lost my card key."

"Oh, sorry." Mike said, glancing around the passenger seat and on the floor to see if it had fallen out. Sarah looked at Mike, and a smile slowly crept across her face.

"Ullr. God of games, right? Does that mean you win games?"

"Well, when I was Ullr, yeah. I won every game I played." Sarah's smile got even wider at this.

"Right," she said, "I bet you can't get me into my hotel room without my card key!" Her eyes widened as she watched Mike. Nothing happened.

"I'm not Ullr anymore. Our powers are gone." Sarah said nothing, just watched. He sighed. "Fine, I'll prove our powers are gone. There's nothing I can do to help you." He parked the car and they both unbuckled their seatbelts. Walking into the hotel, Mike had hoped to see a concierge who could help them by letting Sarah into her room, but the front desk was empty. He balled his hands into fists as his pace picked up and he walked to the elevator bank. Sarah quick-stepped right behind him and jumped into the elevator just as the doors began to close. Mike hit the button for the third floor, and stood quietly while the annoying sounds of Celine Dion, as interpreted by muzak, rolled over them. They got out of the elevator, turned left, and walked up to room 313. Before he could grab the handle, Sarah finally spoke from behind him,

"How did you know my room was on the third floor, Mike?"

"I… what?"

"My room is 313, but I never told you that. I never told any of you guys that."

"You must have mentioned it." Mike ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He really just wanted to drop this damn tourist off and go home to Hanna.

"I'm a New Yorker. You're lucky I told you my real name. And anyway, how do you plan to…" before she could finish, Mike gently pushed past her and opened the door. They both stopped moving. "I know this isn't the US, but my door should probably be locked." They both stared into the darkened room. "In a horror movie," Sarah looked at Mike, "this would be when the audience yells at us to not go into that room."

"I'm going into that room."

"Of course you are."

"Stay behind me," Mike pushed the door open and began to walk in, shoulders hunched to defend against any attack.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

Mike stopped, looking down at the woman, "What do you mean, 'what am I doing'? I'm gonna go check it out," he whispered in a strained voice.

"With your…. epic godly gaming powers? Look, if this were Dungeons and Dragons, yes, I'd let you take the lead. But, and I mean this in a nice way, I'm the fricking goddess of war." Sarah stared Mike down for a moment, before pushing past him and into the room. Too late, he whispered after her, "WERE. You WERE the goddess of war," but followed Sarah into the hotel room.

They stepped just inside the door, and stood still, hearts racing, listening for any sounds that couldn't be attributed to blood pounding in their ears. Sarah felt tiny hairs on her arm prick up, and breaths clotted in her throat. Nothing moved, that was true, but it felt to her as though someone had been here. The air was different, and the room felt as though it had been violated by a foreign presence. Her eyes wide and pupils fully dilated, she reached out with her right hand and pressed the switch for the light. All at once, the room was flooded with light from a not-unpleasant series of lamps placed around strategically around. The place was decorated primarily in black and white, with a few colored accessories around the room. A blue teakettle sat on the dresser, next to the tv, Sarah's clothes were strewn about near an open suitcase.

"Nothing seems off…" Mike said, slowly looking around the room, his pulse slowing and his spine straightening.

"God of the hunt," said Sarah looking over her shoulder at him just inches behind her, "but god of war, you are not. Someone was here. Someone was in my space. And it wasn't to turn down my sheets or leave me chocolates." Sarah looked back into the room. She took a breath and focused all her thoughts on the room.

All at once, she was 22 again, climbing the creaking wooden stairs to her fourth floor walk-up in Manhattan. It had been about eighteen hours since she had left that morning; going from a waitressing job to pay the rent, to an extra shift at the university bookstore to buy the materials for the upcoming semester. Bookstore staff received deep discounts on used and returned books, and it was the only way she managed to afford her Master's in American military history. And in spite of everything, she'd had a good call with her mother earlier in the week, and she suspected that her parents' feelings on her leaving the community to follow her dreams of an advanced degree and possibly leaving New York to travel alone, might be changing. She slipped the key into the lock of her front door, and exhaled a deep sigh she hadn't known she was holding. Her shoulders eased as she began to turn the lock, only to find it wouldn't move. The key wasn't stuck, it just had nowhere left to turn; the lock was already open. Sarah froze. She had taken the self defense classes offered by her school, more as a precaution than anything, but wondered now if she would be able to poke a man in the eye and knee him in the balls if he came after her. She figured she was up to the task. At the very least, it's hard to rape a girl when your balls are swollen and throbbing in pain.

But all that melted away as she took a deep breath and focused her thoughts. At first, she hadn't known why she did it; it just seemed like something she ought to do. Breathe. Concentrate. But as she did, a stillness came over her, and with that, a certainty. She knew what was beyond the door… and it made her fucking furious.

Her eyes cleared. "The bathroom," Sarah said to Mike, this time not even bothering to look over her shoulder. She turned sharply to her right, and pushed the door open with the tips of her fingers, then walked in and pressed the switch for the light. Despite everything, despite the essence of Freyja that had inhabited her body for years, or the war photos she had poured over when writing her papers at school, despite even the constant onslaught of American cop and forensic shows, there's nothing quite like seeing a dead hobo in a pool of his own blood, taking up prime real estate in the extra large "luxury" bathtub of her hotel room. Mike's hand gently touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see them both standing there, wide eyed, in the mirror directly across from the door. Written on the mirror, in what she assumed was the dead man's blood, were words that every horror connoisseur would have known was coming from the moment she walked through her door:

GET OUT!


	14. Chapter 14 - Where Are All the Gods?

"...and you think this dead hobo was Kvasir?" Olaf's voice sounded foggy and distant.

"I reckon. Unless you think Sarah is in the habit of bringing hobos back to her hotel room, brutally murdering them in the tub, and then swinging by ours for a night of dinner and merriment." Mike rubbed his forehead. He had told the cops that he needed to use the loo, and was standing in the men's bathroom of the lobby. It was difficult trying to have discreet conversation regarding a mutilated hobo, as other guests walked in and out. He was fairly certain his smiles to them were less reassuring, and more psycho-possibly-will-eat-you. One small boy had cried.

"Well, it's not like we know what she does on her off hours, do we?" He was drunk. That was it. After they had left, Mike was certain Olaf had gotten into the wine. Or beer. Or rubbing alcohol.

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't _this_. Look, I tried calling Anders, but he isn't answering my calls. Big surprise there. I need you… or someone still sober… to go get him and bring him to the hotel."

"Whyyyyyyyyyyy?"

"Because," sighed Mike, "Our powers clearly aren't gone, and as much as I hate to admit it, I need him right now."

"That's what he said? He _needs _me?" The smirk that Anders wore on his face managed to travel the distance through the satellites in the sky, and all the way back down to Ty's cell phone, where he sat in his darkened kitchen in his shorts. Dawn was asleep and gently snoring in bed when the screen to Ty's phone had lit up with the call from Olaf, telling him that Mike wanted him to grab his wayward brother and get their asses to Sarah's hotel. And no, their grandfather didn't know where that was, so Ty should probably call Mike and just work all that shit out for himself, since Olaf was buggering off to bed. With Ingrid. They were going to do things to each other that were probably illegal in most places outside of Thailand.

"Yes, Anders," Ty sighed wearily. "Look, they think Kvasir is dead…"

"The spitty-hobo-god? What could he have done to piss anyone off? I mean, other than his smell."

"...Yeah. Him. Well, his human host is dead. Mike says he was cut up in in that girl Sarah's bathtub,"

"Kinky."

"...And he thinks they might need help with the police."

"Well, you can tell our loving, older brother, to fuck right off."

"Anders," sighed Ty

"I'm serious, Ty. I shed blood, sweat, and tears for this family, and what do I get in return?" Anders's voice rose, and his grip tightened on his phone. "I'm left holding the bag. You get Dawn, Mike gets Hanna, Olaf gets… whatever isn't nailed down, and Our Lord Odin gets to finally be a REAL boy and shag morose little roommate. Huzzah. Only, at the end of the day, Ty," Anders knuckles were white and his eyes burned. He hadn't cried since he had been a little boy, listening to his mom tell him that daddy had, once again, shot through, and he wasn't going to break that record now. If he had to drink until the eyes of everyone in Auckland bled, he would fucking well do it! He sighed, "At the end of the day, I'm still just Anders. No Bragi, no clients, no company," he chuckled at the play on words, "no company. Alone. So you tell Mike, Olaf, Axl, Hanna, Sarah, and the rest of the sugar plum fairies to kiss my ass. I'm out." Anders pressed 'End' on his cell phone, and put it down. He was out. Out of the god business, out of being everyone's '+1' lately, and out of being Anders.

So, where did an ex-God have to go to get a little action around here? He grabbed his coat and walked out into the New Zealand night.


	15. Chapter 15 - Oh Ye Little God of Games

"You should go."

"That's so funny, I was just about to say the same thing to you. The thing is, all my stuff is here, so it would be weird if I just peaced-out."

The police had left and Mike had done his best to convince them that they had no idea who the dead hobo was, nor why he was sliced and diced in a foreign girl's hotel room. It had been luck that one of the cops had been a friend of Mike's from his school days, but he didn't think even a shared past of cutting classes together could sort this situation out easily. And even he wasn't willing to bet on himself this time. He sighed, preparing himself for a fight.

"Fuck. Look, whoever did this clearly wants you gone," he walked over to her. She wasn't a member of his family. She wasn't one of the kids he had raised practically on his own since he was 21. Even so, he tried to use the full force of his determination on her, willing her to do what he knew was safe. "It's just… it's not safe for you here. Bad things happen when God stuff gets stirred up. You should go home!" He folded his arms across his chest, expecting the screaming and yelling he had so often known from fights with his ex-wife.

Sarah met his gaze evenly, and her eyes focused on his. Instead of screaming, instead of yelling, she did something that sent chills down his skin. She walked slowly and purposefully toward him. There was a new, feline-like grace in her movements, as though her previous demeanor had been hiding something darker and more predatory. She placed her feet deliberately, one in front of the other, never taking her eyes off of his. Then, in a steely soft voice that seemed to come both from her throat and all around him,

"You think where I come from is _safer_? You think I should go back? You have no concept of what I had to do to get here." She was now so close to him that if he leaned forward ever so slightly, he would be able to feel her breath fan his face."I didn't come to New Zealand to be scared off the minute I started getting close to finding out who I am. Whoever, or whatever, did this, I'll find it. And when I do, make no mistake, oh ye little god of games, it'll be sorry it _ever _tried to intimidate me."

He hadn't realized that his eyes were watering from not blinking until she broke her gaze and turned back to the room. The police had given her 20 minutes to gather her things, while an officer waited just outside the closed door. She would be moved to a different room, courtesy of the hotel. She set about putting her clothes into her bag. Mike's lungs ached and he coughed out a breath he'd been holding. The room felt hot, like someone had started a…

"Fire."

"Do you remember it being hot when you first got back to her room?" Olaf was wearing an understated hawaiian shirt, with only a smattering of naked dancing hula girls, and full trousers as a nod to the cool morning. He, Mike, and Axl sat around Ty's dining room table, trying to wake up with coffees and teas.

"No, but I was also more concerned with the road-kill corpse in her bathroom than the thermostat."

"...and why were you even in her room, oh grandson of mine?" Olaf's face cracked in a mischievous smile. "Looking for a root, when the dead man killed the mood?"

"Keep it up, old man, and I'll put you in a home the minute you start to look your age."

"Sarcasm only clouds my mighty powers of logic and deduction." Olaf gave Mike a mock scowl and drank his tea.

"So, you think it might have been Loki, then?" Axl leaned in conspiratorially, despite the fact that everyone in the house knew about norse gods. His eyes were guarded; Loki, or the Asshole-Formerly-Known-As-Loki, as Axl liked to think of him, was still very much an asshole. And a rich one, too. They might have been stripped of their godly powers, but Colin Gundersen still held significant earthly wealth and influence.

"I reckon," replied Mike, taking a swig of his coffee. He should probably just bypass this method, and mainline it straight into his veins, after the long night he'd had. Sarah had moved rooms and he'd seen her settled, although it didn't seem like she noticed him one way or the other. She was still friendly and polite, but the matter of whether or not she should stay had clearly been settled. Whether she was an ex-goddess, she was not someone he wanted to piss off. Not with bodies turning up around him. He had felt a kind of power around her in that room; something deep and dark below the surface. Better to have even an ex-powerful-goddess with him, than against him.

"Well, I guess we should go see our old pal, Colin," Olaf said with a smile.

"Hold on, grandpa," Axl looked from Olaf to Mike. "Why would Colin or Loki want Sarah to leave? How would he even know about her?"

"And more to the point," interrupted Ty, fresh from a shower and throwing on clothes as he padded around his kitchen, "why would he even care? There have to be dozens of American tourists every day in Auckland, but Colin stops to kill Kvasir just to scare this one off?"

"How many other American tourists are the former human host to the goddess Freyja?" Mike tossed the question to Ty over his shoulder. Ty stood in his kitchen, drinking orange juice from the carton. He pondered the question a moment before responding.

"But… former, right? We're all former. So, what does he have to worry about?"

"Well," said Axl, with a look of resignation on his face, "I guess it's time we go ask."


	16. C16 - He's Still Clever and Still a Shit

The house hadn't changed. It still reminded Axl of charred white bones; a painfully modern aesthetic at the end of a long driveway. The gate, as ever to the Johnson brothers, was locked. Mike pulled the truck up to the keypad just in front of the gate, and pressed the buzzer. The small camera focused its steady gaze on him, and the keypad lit up.

"Fuck off," it snipped, in a pseudo-chipper tone.

"Colin! For… for fuck's sake. We need to talk to you!" Mike ground his teeth as he stared into the camera. Everything of Colin's felt like it was laughing at him… even his fucking camera.

"The Johnson brothers need something from me? My life may finally have found its purpose! Eat a bag of dicks, and fuck off."

"Back off, lads, and let me handle this!" Olaf declared, his voice full and rich with authority. He leaned from the back seat of the truck, until he was nearly in Mike's face, and said, "Seriously, Colin. Let us in."

"Go. Away."

"Whelp! Did the best I could!" Olaf flopped back into his seat.

"Shit, grandpa!" Mike breathed. Ty leaned across the passenger's side until his face was close to Mike's, and said directly into the camera,

"Colin, the way I see it, you have two choices here, mate. You can open this gate right now and let me and my brothers in, or I will get out of this car and so help me if it takes a lifetime, I will freeze every inch of this property until the ice finally reaches the last inch that is. your. dick. Open. The fucking. Door, Colin." A heartbeat passed, then two. The lock on the gate clicked as it began to give way. Ty leaned back in his seat and stared straight ahead at the property. He let out a frosty breath, and Axl shivered and drew his coat closer around him in the dark of the back seat.

"Well done, you." Mike said, his eyes wide with awe at his often quiet younger brother. A small smile ticked up at the edges of Ty's mouth. He didn't take much pleasure in ever having Hodr's powers, but every once in a while, they seemed to come in handy. Particularly with Colin.

Mike drove up the path, and parked near the front door. The lights weren't on, and Colin didn't greet them. Not that they were expecting him.

"Remember," Axl said to the group before anyone got out of the truck, "be on your guards. He may not be Loki anymore, but he's still clever, and still a shit."

"When did you get so smart?" Mike smiled warmly at Axl.

"Guess it comes from having been Odin," Axl said back. His voice was kind, but his face was drawn and his eyes were sharp. They darted over the property, as though searching for shadows, even in the bright light of day. The others began walking to the door, and Axl loped after them, being sure to stay just a few feet behind.

Ty was the first to the door, and gently pushed. It swung open easily. The men exchanged glances, and silently moved into the front hall. The house felt empty, but not cold. The air was warm, but not kind of gentle warmth you feel on a sunny afternoon; this was a harsh heat. The kind you feel from standing too close to a campfire; uncontrolled and wildly inaccurate. Too close and you'd be burned, too far and you'd freeze. They walked through the hall, and turned right into Colin's den. He sat on a chair in the middle of the room, a glass of amber whiskey in his hand.

"Ahh, the stooges returned!" he tilted his glass in a mock toast. Then, to Ty he added, "Uh, garcon, my whiskey is a little warm… Do you think you could add a bit of ice?" He smiled a toothy grin at Ty, who smiled back and responded,

"If I recall, Loki, the last time you got me mad didn't end well for you. Or that hand you're using right now…" Colin's grin turned into a snarl as he began a response that was cut off by Axl,

"Look, you don't want us here, and we don't want to be here, but we need some information and I think you're the only one who has it." Colin's eyes shifted to Axl, but the fire that Ty had ignited raged inside the dark pupils. Axl took a step back into Olaf's chest. He felt Olaf's reassuring hand on his shoulder, the other hand was wrapped around the chain he often wore.

The flames in the fireplace licked up and twisted, and the heat in the room was strong, it felt as though someone had opened the door to a furnace. Axl had seen Colin mad before, he'd even seen him enraged… but this was something different. There was something more behind his eyes now, more than fire and fury. This was something else, something Axl wasn't sure he thought Colin could feel: this was fear.


End file.
